slide 1: Healthcare Burden and subsequent advances in the Healthcare Sector of UAE
The United Arab Emirates is ranked among one of the most developed countries in the world. According to a survey by the
World Bank the GDP of the UAE reached all-time high to USD 414.18 Billion last year an increase of around USD 399.458
Billion from USD 14.721 Billion in the year 1975.
The consistent growth in people’s per capita income and a considerable fall in poverty rates has increased the quality of
living standards in the UAE. However luxurious living is leading to sedentary life style increased preference to junk and
high calorie fatty food and physical inactivity. In addition to this practices such as prolonged sitting inappropriate body
postures and untimely food habits has taken a toll on the health of teens and adults across the UAE.
A survey revealed that the last ten years have seen an increasing trend of chronic non-communicable diseases such as
cardiovascular diseases obesity diabetes etc. Consequently associated comorbidities such as diabetes kidney problems
asthma etc. have started to prevail among the Emiratis. For instance cardiovascular diseases account for almost 30 of
deaths in the UAE while the average mortality in case of heart attack or stroke is 20 years younger than the average global
mortality globally.
In the year 2015 Sheikh Mohammed Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE launched a Fund to Finance Innovation
worth AED 2 billion to advance sectors of health education science technology and others. The country also garnered the
support and guidance from various international organizations such as WHO to help the region steer into the right direction.
The main aim is to prevent non-communicable diseases and in turn improve the overall health which falls in line with the
Dubai’s Vision 2021. In its journey to realize its Vision 2021 UAE is working to catalogue itself among the countries with
the best healthcare in the world. 42.2 of the federal budget of UAE is devoted to Social development and overall well-
being of the people out of which the government has set aside around 7.3 for the healthcare domain.
Not only this the UAE is also implementing mandates to exempt the healthcare businesses from taxes promoting ease of
business and various other initiatives to facilitate increase in FDI with an aim to provide world class healthcare at affordable
rates. Also the UAE government has strategized the way healthcare is dealt with through its Abu Dhabi Healthcare Strategic
Plan and Dubai Health Strategy 2021 to advance the healthcare domain and to attract the Pharma companies to UAE. Such
advances are not only expected to better the healthcare situation of the citizens of UAE but is also expected to become a
hotspot for medical tourists from across the globe. Subsequently UAE is now becoming a hotbed of potential opportunities
for pharmaceutical companies across the globe. Some of the key Pharma companies established in the MENA healthcare
market are Pfizer UAE Johnson Johnson Middle East Merck UAE Novo Nordisk Pharma Gulf Gulf Pharmaceutical
Industry-Julphar JULPHAR Valeant Pharmaceuticals MEA FZ LLC and several others.
Visit https://duphat.ae/ to read more.
Source: DelveInsight – www.delveinsight.com